The earliest evidence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in children increases the risk of acute rheumatic heart disease, valvular lesion progression and definite RHD development as stated in a prospective cohort study.

DASH diet lowers risk of gout in men

09 Jul 2017

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is effective in reducing uric acid concentrations and risks of gout in males, a new prospective cohort study reveals. In contrast, Western diets up the risk of gout.

A cohort of 44,444 males aged between 40 and 75 years and without histories of gout were divided into groups of five according to DASH and Western diet scores.

Compared with the lowest fifth, those in the second (relative risk [RR],0.90; 95 percent CI, 0.79 to 1.04), third (RR, 0.87; 0.76 to 1.01), fourth (RR, 0.82; 0.70 to 0.95) and highest (RR, 0.68; 0.57 to 0.80) fifth of DASH scores had lower risks of gout after controlling for potential confounders (p<0.001 for trend).

In contrast, those in the second (RR, 1.09; 0.93 to 1.28), third (RR, 1.15; 0.98 to 1.36) fourth (RR, 1.12; 0.94 to 1.33) and highest (RR, 1.42; 1.16 to 1.74) fifth of Western diet scores showed higher risks of gout compared with the lowest fifth after controlling for confounders (p=0.005 for trend).

Similarly, stratifying the participants according to BMI, alcohol use and hypertension showed a reduction in the risk of gout with increasing DASH scores.

Participant data were obtained from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study excluding those that did not have complete dietary information. Diets were examined every 4 years and assigned corresponding DASH scores giving preference to high intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and low intake of saturated fats, sodium and processed meats.

On the other hand, scoring for Western diet scores gave preference to high intakes of red and processed meats, desserts, sweets and refined grains.

The earliest evidence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in children increases the risk of acute rheumatic heart disease, valvular lesion progression and definite RHD development as stated in a prospective cohort study.